Engineer Hirotaka Sato is working on developing cyborg insects for search and rescue missions after natural disasters. Sato’s team is using Madagascar hissing cockroaches fitted with electrodes and sensors to navigate through rubble and locate survivors. These cyborg cockroaches can carry up to 15 grams of technology and have the ability to detect living people. Sato’s goal is to deploy hundreds of these biohybrid machines in disaster zones within the next 3-5 years. Other researchers in the field of biohybrid robotics are also exploring the use of animals like jellyfish for environmental monitoring and developing muscle-based robots for various applications. However, there are still challenges in terms of scaling up production and ensuring the longevity of these biohybrid creations.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03801-0